It is common practice in the medical field to include a radiopaque element in surgical sponges so that such sponges can be detected by X-ray if inadvertently left in the body cavity following a surgical procedure. In this context, surgical sponges include folded gauze and nonwoven fabric swabs, woven and knitted laparotomy pads, and cotton balls.
A common X-ray detectable material used in conjunction with surgical sponges is a polymeric filament or ribbon loaded with an X-ray opaque filler material such as barium sulfate. Suitable polymeric materials include polyisobutylene, polyvinyl chloride and copolymers of vinyl acetate and vinyl chloride.
The X-ray detectable elements have been attached to the base sponge material by a variety of techniques. In the case of gauze swabs, a filament has been interwoven into the fabric of the gauze, or attached to the surface of the fabric and folded into the sponge construction. In the case of laparotomy sponges, an X-ray detectable ribbon has been enclosed in a seam stitched along one edge of the pad, and an X-ray detectable filament has been incorporated into the woven handle strap of the pad.
Securing an X-ray detectable element to a nonwoven sponge has presented a problem since nonwovens are produced continuously and at high speed and sewing or stitching the X-ray detectable filament to the nonwoven is not practical from a manufacturing point of view. Some success was had in attaching the X-ray detectable filament to the surface of the nonwoven, usually by heat fusing or resin bonding. Although, this method of attachment was acceptable under manufacturing considerations, the security of attachment was not sufficient to prevent the X-ray detectable element from being pulled off the fabric under some conditions of use.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a nonwoven surgical sponge with an X-ray detectable element as an integral part of the fabric construction. It is a further object of this invention to provide a method of incorporating an X-ray detectable element into a nonwoven fabric structure without disrupting the fabric or the manufacturing process. These and other objects of the present invention will be apparent from the ensuing description and claims.